Origins AAR

Standard AAR format, so let’s go!

Three Ups:

1) Feedback. We got great feedback on what was working and not with our games. Including some of our games that have been out for awhile and we plan on updating. Thanks to everyone who gave us the great intel!

2) Playing other games. Between Jim, Grace and I we played a number of different designers' games, and made a lot of observations as well. I firmly believe you can’t grow as a designer or publisher without checking out what others are designing as well. In particular, I was taken by Major’s Gambit. The game covers modern division operations, especially how the staff implements various effects, in an elegant and frenetic manner. Loved the game.

3) Hanging out. Going to Origins (or Buckeye Game Fest for that matter) feels like a reunion at this point. I love reconnecting over the latest games, sharing a hard fought victory, and grumbling over terrible luck at a loss (has to be luck, doesn’t it?)

Three Downs:

1) Our Airbnb. While probably perfectly acceptable for drunken The OSU fans to scream “Go The Buckeyes!” for a football weekend at The Columbus, the Airbnb was not the best. Until something drastically changes, I’ll continue to stay at Airbnbs/VRBOs (my hotel horror stories dwarf any drama I’ve had at Airbnbs), but likely not this one.

(If you are wondering why the extra definite articles, well, so is the rest of the world. You’ll have to ask the snooty administrators at THE Ohio State University why that is an apparently existential addition to their name.)

2) Game Selection. Origins requires events to be submitted 6 months before the convention. This  hamstrings us from fine-tuning what games to demo and requires us to have a really good crystal ball. I feel like we could have gotten better bang for our buck with a different selection, so we’ll be looking at this very carefully come December.

3) Sales. We had none, since we didn’t have a booth. Booths at Origins are crazy expensive, but we may have figured out a solution by working with another publisher next year.